Street Salsa Bachata Rueda Workshop in Austin

The Austin casino rueda and bachata rueda workshop was very well attended.  I mean "very well".  And everybody had a very good time too.  Take a look at the videos and pics I got.

First of all, if you ever get up to Austin and are just 'hanging out' you ought to stop by Ruta Maya coffee shop.  It's sort of a hippie type joint but that's really what it's appeal is...i.e. very relaxed.  They've got some good coffee and tea drinks there as well as some good snacks.  And the staff is nice.  I haven't been there much except a few of Sandras' classes on Sunday but from what I read on the bulletin boards (see the photos) they have a very full and very eclectic calendar of events.

Sandra has worked long and hard to build her StreetSalsa casino rueda program up to the enviable stage that it is now.  Her classes on Sunday have consistently good attendance.  As you might expect, there's more beginners than advanced students but, heck, that's just like elementary school vs. college, right?

Those in attendance vary widely in age, ethicity and professionl status....you see'em all there.  And everybody has a good time.  Lots of couples as well as singles.

Sandra typically runs two classes simultaneously for each of the two hours.  One class is beginner and the other is more advanced.  Just recently, now that Sandra has 'grown' a large number of more advanced dancers, she has added more advanced content to some of the classes.

Ruta Maya itself puts a high value on her programs there and Sandra tells me they're working on some exciting new programs for the coming year that'll be good for everybody...i.e. Sandra as well as Ruta Maya.

I got 4 videos this time and several pictures (of some new 'art' work I saw on the wall there).  Here's the videos:

This one is of Sandra teaching her rueda class.  Since it was the last class of the year, she decided to teach some patterns that she likes a lot:

The special guest star of the day was George Elizando.  George, as you may remember, is the dude I went to the rueda congress in Miami with a couple of months ago.  George, by profession, is a high school level teacher in McAllen, Texas where he teaches jazz band and some dance classes.  And I can tell you that one of the reasons he's a good teacher is because he has the attitude of a good student.  In Miami, he was constantly asking people 'how do I do.....' this and that.

His objective there this day was to teach a class in a dance that's totally new in this area...bachata rueda.  This style of bachata was originated by some folks back east...in Boston I think it was.  I meet'em at the congress.  George had already seen it once before.  But the dance is really cool....lots of sabor y suave to it.  Here's the clip of him demonstating bachata to some of the people who weren't familiar with it. He's dancing with a cute young lady named Alejandra who is from Equador and is a student at UT.  Here's the clip:

And here's some clips of George teaching.  Some people were stuggling a little bit but they were able to do it reasonably well when we finished.  Of course, we didn' get into it very far because we only had one hour for the class and practice.  That's why I'm sure the next class George is going to do, sometime in January, will be well attended.  Here's that clip:

Hmmmm....somehow I forgot the 'cover' on that clip.  No matter....

Then, after we got finished, I got a video of everybody together.  There's some pictures in this one too and this clip isthe first time I've combined pictures and videos in one clip.  I did it with MovieMaker2....the same one you have if you have Windows XP.  Here it is:

Me and George and Sandra:

Here's some pictures of some of the new 'art'(?) work I saw on the walls there...and some of the various types of publications and notices on the walls:

When I got back to Houston I had dinner at Olive Garden over on 290@34th Street.  I had the Lasagna.  I wouldn't recommend it.  I didn't like it.  But the dessert was OK:

And that's what I did Sunday.